@Mooneydriver, you were probably aware, but it was possible to do the French UL at Biel-Kappelen LSZP until not too long ago… unfortunately the rated FI passed away not too long ago.
I wonder if there is any other French UL instructor around here in CHE, as I also had been eyeing the possibility?
Dan wrote:
you were probably aware, but it was possible to do the French UL at Biel-Kappelen LSZP until not too long ago… unfortunately the rated FI passed away not too long ago.
No I was not… to be honest I’ve never looked at ULMs as many incarnations would simply collapse if I sat in it. This may now change with the 600 kg rule but before, I don’t think I’ve seen a ULM which could take me, an instructor and the fuel required and be legal.
Since when were French ULm’s allowed to be based in Switzerland? I thought ULM’s are generally banned or only allowed now under some sort of specialized class?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
ince when were French ULm’s allowed to be based in Switzerland? I thought ULM’s are generally banned or only allowed now under some sort of specialized class?
You are of course right, but what I’m alluding to happened before the enforcement… and not sure what they (he) used for training, though I heard it was done on the Savannah…
Maybe there’s an ecolight (what a farce…) FI rated as a FRE UL instructor around? @Frans and others?
gallois wrote:
Back in the early days of the ULM a PPL pilot just took his licence to a DGAC office an you would be handed a ULM licence.That’s the current situation here in Switzerland. You get a ULM license for free upon request, based on your EASA-FCL license, which doesn’t expire. The only requirement is an official address in Switzerland or Liechtenstein.
Maybe there’s an ecolight (what a farce…) FI rated as a FRE UL instructor around? @Frans and others?Good question. I know only possibilities to train on LSA around Central-Switzerland, but that leads to a LAPL or PPL. No idea where you could train for a (foreign) UL license. Maybe in Ecuvillens? There seems to be a bigger ecolight community there, including a Slovak-registered JMB VL3.
Frans wrote:
That’s the current situation here in Switzerland. You get a ULM license for free upon request, based on your EASA-FCL license, which doesn’t expire. The only requirement is an official address in Switzerland or Liechtenstein.
I did not know that. Does your rating have to be valid in order to get that? Where do you get it from, FOCA?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
I did not know that. Does your rating have to be valid in order to get that? Where do you get it from, FOCA?Yes, FOCA indeed. You can download the application here and scroll down to “Issue or Extension of a Swiss UL licence by a holder of an EASA licence”. Your rating in the EASA license has to be valid upon request.
National thread drift alert… sorry guys 
Thanks @Frans. Yes, I know a few members of the LSGE gang, but AFAIK they all trained at LSZP, or in France. So, by the looks, it is for the moment not possible to get a French UL licence around here, but to travel to France first.
Also had a look at the Swiss UL application form, and not really clear to my fading brain :
1) to obtain or extend an UL-licence, the rating or privilege shall
be valid or recent in the EASA licence or
be obtained on UL aircraft
Anyway, my total lack of knowledge of the actual Swiss licensing system has me ask the following: assuming I do apply, and guessing that based on my current EASA licence I can only have crosses made in the first column labelled UL, I then send said application, cough up some hard earned (…) dough, what would I get?
A Swiss UL licence I guess. Ok, but what can I do with that? Does this Swiss UL category encompass the ecolight and microlight categories, or has all this stuff been renamed into UL?
The SMA webpage lists:
IN SWITZERLAND AUTHORIZED ARE NOW:
It’s curious why CH is tightening up this stuff, while no other country in Europe (vague reports from some UL fly-ins in Germany getting hit by inspectors, excepted) is bothering.
On the contrary, CH is very slooowly relaxing the strict NEIN-NON-NO-NA (in the official languages French-German-Italian-Romansh) that was pronounced many years ago by the political instances thru the voice of FOCA, against any form of UL.
Last century, deltaplanes and paragliders started to be motorised, and the few examples flying in the US and EU set the tone… as they were, powered by unmuffled 2 stroke “lawnmower” or “chainsaw” motors.
The vision of zillions of those flying contraptions propagating noise whilst zigzagging at leisure over the so pure Swiss mountains and meadows, and thereby scaring the cows so their milk would instantly turn sour and in turn every Swiss citizen’s share of cheese would have to be rationed, was understandably more than enough to create the outcry.
We are now a few years later, not much wiser, but as with other things in aviation, our FOCA seems to be inching in the right direction. The motivation is probably due to progress in the UL scene, as much as the stuff going on in neighbouring countries.
The tightening @Peter is probably referring to has been mentioned in this thread, and concerns the operation of foreign ULs on CH grounds. What happened in short is that a bunch of Swiss PPLs lost, or couldn’t renew their medical, and so an easy move for them was to acquire or build a French or Italian UL and fly it around. This worked for a while, but once FOCA became aware of the trend, they were not too happy and imposed the operation restrictions as we know them today.
Dan wrote:
A Swiss UL licence I guess. Ok, but what can I do with that? Does this Swiss UL category encompass the ecolight and microlight categories, or has all this stuff been renamed into UL?
This whole thing is getting more and more standardized in Europe, but lots of differences exist. In Norway there are no UL license. What you get is a “proof of competence”. What is fairly standard is the 3 categories:
At least in Norway you need a “proof of competence” on each one. A few basics of the sort that is etched into your back bone and automated, are different in each category. Gyrocopters are probably the most “different”. A person with LAPL or higher would need 2-3 hours and a test in “laws and regulations”. For owning/maintaining your own aircraft, a (theoretical) test in maintenance is also required. That “proof of competence” is valid for life and all currency in other aircraft (in the same category) counts.
